2024 NBA Summer League

While I'm stuck in the 1980s, the Dallas Mavericks also announced their summer roster for Las Vegas, and I'm racking my brain trying to remember if there were any vintage shows set there. Hold on... still thinking...

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Wait, who are these guys? There's no Dereck Lively II; after his rookie season, he has earned his way into not being here. No Duke or ACC players at all, though they'll be coached by Boston College alum Jared Dudley. (The Eagles changed conferences in 2005, so he spent two seasons in the Big East and two seasons in the ACC.)

I do see 2024 draft pick Melvin Ajinca and 2023 draft pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper, plus 7-5 center Jamarion Sharp, and no one else who is taller than 6-9.
 
I think I have an unhealthy attraction to wondering what image brevity will pick next for his summer league rosters.

These NBA teams are really missing an opportunity to break the internet by hiring this dude as a social media manager.
 
2024 California Classic Summer League (Sacramento AND San Francisco)

The Lakers are among the 7 teams -- 6 NBA franchises and China -- that are playing in this two-city event. 7 teams? That's a nice even number. So the Kings will double up, playing 6 games instead of 3, including twice on Saturday and Sunday. Let's hope they bring enough players on their summer roster to do a split squad or something.

"Or something." The Sacramento Kings have announced two separate rosters for the California Classic: one set of players and coaches for their home court, and another set of players and coaches sent to San Francisco. Like a basketball-themed season of "Survivor", they will presumably trim and merge the squads later into a single team for Las Vegas.

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A pair of kings, and one queen: Lindsey Harding, who played for the Duke women's basketball team from 2003-2007, is the reigning G League Coach of the Year after her debut season with the Stockton Kings. She will be assisting Doug Christie in Sacramento. (There must be some Duke/UNC equal time policy, because Jawad Williams is leading the other Kings squad in San Francisco.)


Two teams, two ACC coaches, and two ACC players (sort of). I decided upthread that I would cover players from the newest members of our conference, so we've got California's Fardaws Aimaq along with Notre Dame's Dane Goodwin.

The headliner was supposed to be Devin Carter, the #13 pick last week, but he has a left shoulder injury from a pre-draft workout and will miss both the California Classic and Las Vegas. Ah, a shoulder injury. So that's why he didn't wear a shirt under his draft day suit; he had a legitimate medical reason for looking that ridiculous.

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Instead we'll see Colby Jones, one of the Kings' 2nd round picks from 2023. (Their other selection, Jalen Slawson, had a two-way contract and played for Coach Harding in Stockton, but the franchise recently decided not to renew the deal.) Other familiar names among the two dozen listed above: Antoine Davis, who fell 3 points shy of breaking Pete Maravich's scoring record in 2023; Boogie Ellis, a former Duke commit who ended up playing for Memphis, then USC; and Drew Timme, a year gone from Gonzaga but still rockin' the mustache.
 
For anyone wondering, players generally make $1500 to appear on a summer league team. They also get their expenses paid for to travel to the city and their room/board are both taken care of during summer league. Not bad for a couple weeks of work but a far, far cry from the riches of even a 2-way contract.
 
The Brooklyn Nets have released a Summer League roster for their trip to Vegas, and there's a familiar name at the top.

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Dariq Whitehead had a long journey back to health, according to the New York Post. He played only 2 games for the Nets and 17 games for the Long Island affiliate before having surgery in January to address a stress reaction in his left shin. He's since recovered, and the Post article provides:

“Dariq should play in summer league, should be available in summer league. Whether or not he plays the entire summer league or not, that’ll be TBD,” general manager Sean Marks said in late April during the introductory press conference for new coach Jordi Fernandez. “But the plan right now is he’s in the gym every day.”

Also on the roster are fellow 2023 draft picks Noah Clowney and Jalen Wilson. (Brooklyn had no picks in 2024.) No Ceilings took a special interest in KJ Jones II, a 6-6 wing who averaged 26-5-4 and was the Division II Player of the Year. He has an Exhibit 10 contract and is an admirable longshot to make the league more permanently. (It's a longform article called The 2024 Undrafted Free Agent Roll Call, a topic after my own heart. I suspect I will be referring to it repeatedly.)
 
The Chicago Bulls posted a fancy red-and-black roster on social media (here), but the basic one on their website is a lot easier to read:

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Well, hello, DJ Steward. He's been in the G League since leaving Duke in 2021. After a breakout performance for the 76ers last summer -- 36 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists in a single game (video highlights) -- he worked his way into a two-way contract with Boston, and played for their affiliate in Maine. I half-expected him to be a summer Celtic, or maybe return to the Sixers, but maybe he decided to try his luck with the hapless pro team in his hometown of Chicago.

The roster is led by 2024 draft pick Matas Buzelis (also born in Chicago) and 2023 pick Julian Phillips. Also here are a pair of NCAA Tournament standouts, Adama Sanogo (2023's Most Outstanding Player) and Marcus Domask (who had a 12-11-10 triple double in the first round this year). Tyler Thomas is here as well; the Hofstra player was the 4th leading scorer among Division I men last year, but Duke managed to keep him under his average in December.

The ACC can claim Steward and NC State's Dereon Seabron, but not Garrison Brooks, who played for UNC but transferred to Mississippi State. The Heels have been guilty of including Brooks among their Summer League portfolios in the past; let's see if they feel the need to artificially inflate their boasting this year.
 
I think I have an unhealthy attraction to wondering what image brevity will pick next for his summer league rosters.

These NBA teams are really missing an opportunity to break the internet by hiring this dude as a social media manager.

I'm woefully unqualified -- my graphic skills pretty much start and end with Microsoft Paint -- but I appreciate the compliment.

Then again, I see that the Orlando Magic stuck with the same font and basic design for the third straight year, and I wonder if these promotional departments could use an outsider:

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That's a lot of jersey numbers above 55. The main attractions are 2024 first rounder Tristan da Silva and 2023 lottery picks Anthony Black and Jett Howard. The lone ACC player is 7-1 center Jay Huff, part of Virginia's 2019 title team. He has volleyed between main rosters and the G League since 2021, with stops in Los Angeles, Washington, and Denver.

While the franchise may not be so great with the visual aids, their digital news manager also published an instant analysis for all 18 summer players, which is unusual and helpful.

Orlando assistant coach Lionel Chalmers will be leading the team this summer. That name reminds me of TV's "The Simpsons" (Lionel Hutz, Superintendent Chalmers). Lionel's boss, Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley, is already in Las Vegas, leading Cooper Flagg, Magic guard Jalen Suggs, and the rest of the Select Team in practices against Steve Kerr and Team USA. I assume Mosley and Suggs will stay in town to watch their summer team in action.
 
The Cleveland Cavaliers, who won the Summer League title last year, have produced a roster in their bid to repeat.

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Gone are Summer League MVP Isaiah Mobley and shooting standout Sam Merrill, but returning is Emoni Bates, who has carried the Next LeBron burden ever since he was a 15-year-old on the cover of Sports Illustrated. After an unimpressive freshman year at Memphis, he transferred to Eastern Michigan and did well enough to be drafted in 2nd round last year. He did fine as a two-way player, playing 15 games for the Cavs, and could make the main roster this year.

Joining Bates is 2024 first round pick Jaylon Tyson, who played for California last year. As I explained earlier, I am tracking him as an ACC player under a somewhat generous definition. He's joined by undrafted rookies DJ Burns (NC State) and Hunter Cattoor (Virginia Tech), along with Pete Nance, who was part of that underwhelming 2022-2023 UNC squad. Like Bates, he was a two-way player for the team last year. Nance is also a Cavs legacy, as his father and brother (Larry Sr and Jr) have played in Cleveland.
 
Also, Stanford's Spencer Jones seems like an awesome person -- a bit like Sion James off the court -- so I'm curious to see if he eventually gets a spot on a Summer League roster. I saw that he did pre-draft workouts with the Blazers, Knicks, and Timberwolves, and those contacts tend to be valuable even when the player is not drafted.

Score one for professional networking: Spencer Jones is on the summer roster for the Portland Trail Blazers. Stanford MBB posted their congratulations here. In that Undrafted Roll Call published by No Ceilings last Monday, the author lamented the absence of Jones on any roster:

As of press time, my highest-ranked player without a deal is Stanford’s Spencer Jones. I ranked Jones 44th on my board and had him in my two-way contract tier. The pitch is simple — Jones is a 6’7” forward with an NBA frame who shoots threes and defends at a high level. He made 39.7% of his threes during his college career on high volume. Defensively, his 2.8 STL% and 2.8 BLK% stand out. But he’s not just a playmaker. He gave first round pick Jaylon Tyson fits during their matchup. Jones also improved considerably as a ball mover this past season. A wrist injury late in the year limited his pre-draft process. But NBA teams are always looking for big wings who shoot, make good decisions, and defend. For Spencer Jones to be sitting on the sidelines at this point is mindboggling to me.

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I may have a Basketball Jones for Spencer Jones, but I'll also keep an eye on 2024 draft pick Donovan Clingan, who went #1 overall in the DBR Mock Draft but slipped to #7 in reality. Portland also had picks at #14, 34, and 40, but they traded them all. (As DBR's mock GM for the Blazers, I wasn't allowed trades, so I picked Tidjane Salaun and Kel'el Ware in the 1st round, and Jaylon Tyson and Ulrich Chomche in the 2nd. Maybe I should have saved a pick for Spencer Jones.)

2023 draft picks Kris Murray and Rayan Rupert are here too, but where's Scoot Henderson? SB Nation fansite Blazer's Edge noticed his absence and offered no explanation. Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian hasn't posted anything yet, while Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report put out a guide to the summer roster that didn't mention Henderson at all.

I'm counting Jones as an ACC player, and joining him is Terquavion Smith of NC State. Smith was a two-way player for the 76ers last season, but moved on when they didn't renew the deal.

I wrote about Hyunjung Lee last summer; growing up in South Korea, he idolized the Splash Brothers. When he decided to go to college, he chose Steph Curry's alma mater (Davidson) over Klay Thompson's alma mater (Washington State). He went pro in 2022, but suffered a foot injury and went undrafted. He played on Golden State's G League affiliate and the 76ers in Summer League 2023 (alongside Terquavion Smith). Last season he played in Australia for the Illawarra Hawks, under head coach Justin Tatum, who's also the father of Jayson Tatum.
 
The Atlanta Hawks are the latest team with a Summer League roster, and it's... fine.

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We start with #1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher, whose name would be a lot more interesting without the French pronunciation. (Break it down and you see that his first and last names have identical syllables that are just rearranged: ZAK-ER-REE, REE-ZAK-ER.) He's joined by 2nd rounder Nikola Durisic and two of the team's 2023 picks, Kobe Bufkin and Mouhamed Gueye. (Seth Lundy recently had his two-way contract renewed, but he will miss Summer League after foot surgery to remove a bone spur.)

One ACC guy here: Jarkel Joiner of NC State. He was on the Hawks' summer roster in 2023, and played for their G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, last season. I was relieved to see that the Skyhawks play in a suburb of Atlanta, rather than the College Park that's located in Maryland. Joiner and his teammates should be safe from thrown water bottles, X-rated insults, and anything else that you might expect from Terrapin fans.
 
Looks like Summer League action kicks off today. This is the TV lineup, according to the Washington Post:


4:30 p.m. Los Angeles Lakers vs. Sacramento » ESPN
6:30 p.m. Miami vs. Golden State » ESPN
8:30 p.m. Charlotte vs. San Antonio » NBA TV
10:30 p.m. Chinese national team at Sacramento » NBA TV

All times EDT
 
Bolden has been putting in some serious work over the last few years. He has had a dominant defensive performance in this summer league game for the Warriors vs. the Heat. I believe he has tallied 8 points, 11 boards, 6 blocks, 2 assists and 2 steals and the 3rd quarter isn't over. His footwork is especially good on defense.
 
I don't know about you guys, but I love getting 18 notifications from ESPN about Bronny's amazing 2 for 9 summer league game that he lost. I really need that up-to-the-minute Bronny coverage and the reactions from LeBron too.

/s
 
I don't know about you guys, but I love getting 18 notifications from ESPN about Bronny's amazing 2 for 9 summer league game that he lost. I really need that up-to-the-minute Bronny coverage and the reactions from LeBron too.

/s
There are definitely no ESPN notifications for my favorite storyline of every Summer League, which players can get whistled for 7 or more fouls.

Sure Mouhamadou Gueye led his team in scoring in a win, but the first column I looked at in the boxscore revealed his more noteworthy accomplishment of being the first player to record 7 fouls in a game this summer.
 
I don't know about you guys, but I love getting 18 notifications from ESPN about Bronny's amazing 2 for 9 summer league game that he lost. I really need that up-to-the-minute Bronny coverage and the reactions from LeBron too.

/s
Yeah, if ESPN has its way, Bronnie will be the star of the summer league. You’d think he’s the next coming of Caitlin Clark.
 
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